Fellowship Baptists remove eight BC churches

Fellowship Baptists are known for their commitment to church planting and to growth.

But a complex set of disagreements over the issue of women in leadership and how those issues should be handled have led to the expulsion of eight BC churches, three of them in Metro Vancouver.

Fellowship Pacific represents over 100 churches in BC; it has an office in Fort Langley and is part of the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches, which has more than 500 churches across Canada.

The decision to remove the churches took place during a Special Convention February 7.

The expelled churches are strongly complementarian, and that was a key issue, but all involved agree that other issues have complicated the situation.

According to the group Keep FEB Complementarian, the term ‘complementarian’ means:

Men and women are created of equal value and yet complementary in role. As to roles in the church, the form of church office of pastors/elders/overseers, and the function of governing and teaching mixed congregations, is reserved for qualified men.

Tim Stephens, an Alberta pastor sympathetic to the eight churches, wrote last fall:

Despite . . . resolutions at the national convention, which affirmed the Fellowship’s complementarian convictions, there remained cases of female associate pastors, elders and preachers/teachers in Fellowship churches and seminaries. . . .

Regional leaders in Western Canada maintain that women pastors and preachers are compliant with our national bylaw and can properly be called complementarian by affirming that the role of ‘lead pastor’ is reserved for biblically qualified men.

He referred to a Fellowship Pacific statement released October 16, 2025.

Churches removed

These churches were removed at the Special Convention:

• Renfrew Baptist Church, Vancouver
• New West Community Church
• Southside Baptist Church, Port Coquitlam
• Squamish Baptist Church
• Salt Spring Baptist Church
• First Baptist Church, Kamloops
•  Providence Baptist Church, Kelowna
• Bethany Baptist Church, Barriere

Among the larger local Fellowship Pacific churches are Faith Fellowship Baptist Church (Vancouver), South Delta Baptist Church, Village Church (multiple sites) and SouthRidge Church (Langley).

Fellowship Pacific agencies and ministry partners include Northwest College & Seminary, Baptist Housing and New Hope Community Services.

Official statement

A statement on the Fellowship Pacific site begins by affirming:

It is with a heavy heart that we address the recent decision to remove eight churches from our fellowship, a decision that has generated significant public conversation and warrants a clear, honest account.

It explains that “This situation did not begin on February 7, 2026,” noting discussion between several local churches and the denomination’s National Council related to “practices around women in ministry.”

Ten churches (plus a suspended church) then brought a motion which would have changed Fellowship Pacific’s current practices related to women in leadership. It was soundly defeated by Fellowship Pacific churches.

A second motion directed the board to ask each of the signatory churches if they could “joyfully fellowship with us moving forward in support of the decision that was reached” – not to give up their convictions, but to “remain in fellowship with churches whose practices differed from their own.”

The statement continues:

One church withdrew from Fellowship Pacific voluntarily. One indicated they could accept the outcome. Another church, at the time of the special convention, had requested more time to consider, a request that was granted. The remaining eight were unable to make that commitment.

Rather than accepting the will of the fellowship, they chose to escalate, actively campaigning against Fellowship Pacific at a national level, lobbying other regions and working through external pressure to overturn what our member churches had clearly and democratically decided. Fellowship Pacific had offered conversation, and conversation had taken place.

Go here for the full Fellowship Pacific statement.

Background

In a New Year Letter, Fellowship Pacific Regional Director Brent Chapman said the decision was particularly difficult because the denomination has been making “incredible strides” following conflict and decline in the early 2000s.

In that letter he referred to a December 16 statement from the Fellowship Pacific Regional Board, written in preparation for the February 7 Special Convention. 

Chapman referred to a letter from the Regional Board explaining the reason for calling this Special Convention. The detailed comment includes this:

For clarity:

• They are not being considered for removal for complementarian theology.
• They are not being considered for removal for asking questions.
• They are not being considered for removal for disagreeing with regional leadership.
• They are not being considered for removal for upholding FEB National Bylaws.

The issue is not theology. The issue is conduct – actions that undermine the decisions of the constituency, violate shared commitments and erode the trust required for partnership.

Another view

Paul Dirks, Lead Pastor of New West Community Church, wrote to me:

Yes, eight churches have been removed, ostensibly for ‘divisiveness,’ but at the root of it all is that our churches believe that women preachers and elders are not in keeping with either Scripture or our denominational boundaries.

There are complicating factors, especially the FEB Pac [Fellowship Pacific] region’s relationship to FEB National and whether FEB Pacific is permitted to not obey our National bylaws.

He also referred me to what he wrote about the Special Convention. Here is a portion:

A couple of the speakers also pointed out that a test of “joyful fellowship,” interpreted as it was by the Board, creates a problem when it is treated like a bylaw – and that the eight churches had indeed written to FEB Pac leadership of their desire to fellowship, save only that they could not, in good conscience, refrain from taking part in national dialogue and involvement around gender-related issues. . . .

The elephant in the room during the discussion was the two-year process initiated by National Council in response to this dispute, and the call by over 60 Ontario churches to not remove churches during this process.

In connection with this is the background relationship of Pacific to National and whether or not Pacific is permitted to contravene National Bylaws. Several of the churches expressed their desire to simply wait out the process.

In the end, the delegates voted to remove the eight churches, with results ranging from 63 to 68% in favour. These churches are now no longer in the Fellowship, will have their benefits and licenses removed and will no longer be able to partake in National processes on the Complementarian Congruency or Affirmation of Faith process.

Go here for Dirks’ full comment.

Comments from Keep FEB Complementarian and well known historian / author Michael Haykin support the eight churches:

Haykin stated February 10:

Despite the fact that some 50 – 60 Fellowship Baptist churches here in the East pled with the BC churches not to move in this direction, the BC region went ahead with their expulsion.

Much more could be said, but I wish to go on record that I think this action to be quite unwise and out of sync with where the rest of our denomination stands on this issue. Ironically, it may well be that the BC region is acting divisively in this matter!

Hope for reconciliation?

In his New Year Letter, Brent Chapman said things have been going well until recently:

That is why, for me, this past year has been so difficult. Although the conflict has been centred on a theological topic, the deeper issue for me has been the attack on what we have worked on so hard for the last two decades to become: a group of churches working together.

Last year, during Impact, the refrain ‘this is not who we are’ was reiterated repeatedly in the presentation before the motion, and I think it captures the angst of our leadership with regards to this conflict.

The Fellowship Pacific statement concludes on a somewhat positive note:

Dirks also concluded his comment with some hope of improved relations:

The [Special Convention] meeting ended in group prayer. It was recognized by incoming Regional Director Brent Chapman as awkward, but the removed churches stayed for prayer, and this was verbally commended by chair, Ben Hall.

And in his email to me:

I wrote it from a perspective trying to be both charitable and objective, knowing that these are my brothers, and that at some point in the future, reconciliation or at least restoration of friendship may be possible.